Biden is finalizing plans to announce term limits and a new ethics code targeting the Supreme Court
President Joe Biden may be preparing to take on the conservative-majority Supreme Court head-on, according to a new report by The Washington Post.
Biden is planning to announce a proposal to establish term limits and an enforceable ethics code on the high court, the outlet reported, citing people briefed on the plan. Specific details of the proposal — or when it might be officially announced — were not immediately available.
The Supreme Court has an existing code of conduct, rolled out last November, which outlines when a sitting Justice should recuse themselves from a case and when outside activities may create the appearance of a conflict of interest. However, unlike the code that binds lower court justices, the Supreme Court’s ethics code lacks any enforcement mechanism. It requires sitting Justices to regulate themselves, with critics regarding the measures as toothless against the court’s lifetime appointees.
Most changes to the Supreme Court would require congressional approval to enact, so Biden is turning to his allies in the House and Senate for help, the Post reported.